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13 Arrested so Shell can continue illegal work

In Glengad, today 13 people were arrested when they confronted Shell over digging in a Special Area of Conservation.

13 anti-Shell protesters were arrested at Glengad on Tuesday, while challenging Shell on the permissions they had to do excavation and other works around the site of the proposed landfall area of the pipeline. The arrested people included Goldman Prize winner Willie Corduff as well as Shell to Sea trailer hostess Mary Horan.

All the 13 were arrested around 2pm and brought to Belmullet garda where after about 3 hours were released without charge with files being sent to the DPP. One of the people arrested has been brought by ambulance to Castlebar Hospital after seeing a doctor in Belmullet station. The mood of the arrestees after release was definitely one of resolute defiance. After the 13 were arrested, Shell attempted to re-commence the excavation work however another group of around 20 locals arrived and halted the work for the remainder of the day.

At approximately 10:30 this morning a Shell digger began clearing the topsoil from the area around the cliff-face to begin the procedure of creating a causeway down to the beach. Roughly an hour later they were requested by the assembled group to produce the permissions but were only met with silence from the line of security which at first tried to let the digger continue but eventually the digger retired to behind security gates.

While Shell have received a Foreshore Licence in 2002 by the then Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources for the offshore part of the pipeline this Licence is only valid up to high-water mark. However Shell are seeking to do work that would involving creating a pipe pull-in facility that would lay the pipeline up to the proposed pressure reduction facility which will be over 30m back from the cliff-face.
Planning permission for all of the onshore pipeline section is currently before An Bord Pleanala since May 2008 under the new Strategic Infrastructure Act and it is believed that an Oral hearing will be heard before An Bord Pleanala provides the necessary rubber-stamp.
However in the meantime it is believed that all the work currently being done in Glengad doesn’t have the necessary permission. Shell have now installed about 5 large port-cabins which include office and cafeteria facilities on the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) only about 300m away from where the Rossport Solidarity Camp stood, until they were removed less than a year ago.

After about an hour standoff, the gardaí led by Superintendent John Gilligan arrived at the scene, parking all their squads, jeeps and paddy wagons inside on the Shell compound on the SAC. After speaking with Shell personnel, Supt Gilligan approached the group and was told about the concerns over the permissions for the work. Supt Gilligan was told that members of the assembled protestors had met with Conor Ó Raghallaigh, Director of the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) on the previous day and that it had been agreed that the necessary permission were to be sought from the Dept of Energy, Communications and Natural Resources and the Dept of Agricultuture & Fisheries.
However, the Departments hadn’t replied to any of the queries sent so far, and so it was requested by the protestors that the work be halted until the situation was clarified. After again speaking with Shell personnel, Supt. Gilligan said that Shell were willing to stop for 2 hours so queries could be made into the permissions granted, however he was told that it was believed that this would not be long enough. Supt. Gilligan was also reminded how last October he had attempted to push through drilling work in the area for Shell that was challenged by locals and which was subsequently found to be illegal. Supt. Gilligan then once more spoke with Shell personnel inside the compound and after warning all the people assembled, people began to be arrested.

I would like to say that I have been trying to establish the legality of these works for almost 2 weeks now, and have sent off countless emails and made a lot of phone calls and am still no clearer than when I began (and many other people have hit blank walls too). I have been dealing primarily with NPWS which is the section of the Dept of Environment whose duty it is to oversee work on SACs and other sensitive areas. I was first of all told on the phone that the work was under the Foreshore Licence and I would receive a detailed email which would clarify my concerns.
However no clarification has been forthcoming and now NPWS have decided to wash they hand of it and have started referring any queries to the other 2 departments involved. The whole episode once again shows way that this project has been split up from start to finish and how no person or department will take any responsibility once questioned.

It should be noted that NPWS in their report seeking the removal of the Rossport Solidarity Camp, stated that site where the camp was would take “10 to 15 years for the site to fully recover” and recommended that the camp be removed and “the habitats allowed to recover naturally”. Now NPWS turn a blind eye when a whole compound (which is probably illegal) has been set up.

One of the most infuriating sights of the day was the 2 NPWS rangers who hung out with the Shell paid ornithologist on the beach for the day watching over the sand martin colony while only 10 metres away a digger had begun destroying the cliff-face. Luckily however the people of the locality have long given up hope that any of these authorities will protect either them or their environment and took action.

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Exactly the same bully boy tactics that were used at Tara - even the fence looks like the one erected at Rath Lugh to keep protesters and local people out of a natural amenity.
Solidarity to the people of Erris and those arrested from one of those arrested at Tara. Thanks for your support and we support you too.
Go n-éirí an t-ádh libh sa chath céanna atá á throid againne i dTeamhair i gcoinne an Rialtas agus forsaí an Stát agus iad ag feidhmiú i gcoinne toil an phobail agus dlíthe na tíre agus na hEorapa ....

The Shell to Sea campaign - like many before it, e.g. anti war actions at Shannon - has fizzled out and after the last election has no voice in the Dail. The people in Dublin (as usual) havent bothered to organise any 'days of action' this year at all, and its dropped off the radar. The processing terminal is being built now all the time, with local labour from the local community, its being finished with no interference, this fight is lost, like so many others.

The various campaigns should unite. This could reignite flagging spirits and create new energy and strategy. Why not convene a meeting with reps from as many campaigns as possible to identify common ground?

The Shell to Sea campaign - like many before it, e.g. anti war actions at Shannon - has fizzled out and after the last election has no voice in the Dail.

That is unnecessarily defeatist. The huge amount of work and money and energy that went into getting the Green Party seats in government has proven to be well worth it as it has ensured a voice in the Dail for people concerned about Rossport. Imagine how terrible things would be if we all hadn't voted for the Greenies?

The Green Party are a laughing stock and got into power under false pretences. Where is John Gormley now, sitting in the corner with his mouth firmly shut, while all this destruction is going on. I urge the so called Green Party to wake up and start protecting our enviornment, I for one would never have voted for them if I knew that they were a bunch of liars with no principals.

Contact John Gormley on 01 6183000 and Eamonn Ryan on 01 6183097 Tell them this destruction needs to be halted before its too late.

Niall. What about the forty two landslides along Glengad and Dooncarton mountains in 2003 following on from Shell's 2002/2003 similar destructive works on Glengad ? ( remember Mawa's brave occupation of the JCB digger bucket ? !!!) . The danger of further landslides is the KEY health and safety issue for the residents of Polahtomas and surrounding areas. Minister Gormally HAS the power to stop these works. Come on Greens with integrity. Where is your backbone ? Help the brave, beleagured, betrayed Erris community.

If you don't have the time/effort to write a short letter/email to the Green Party, feel free to copy/paste what I have just sent to info@greenparty.ie. It will only take you a few seconds.
___________________________

To Whom It May Concern:

I am very disappointed in the Green Party's failure to act to stop the destruction of one of the greenest areas of Ireland - Erris/Bellanaboy. What Shell are wishing to do, doing, and continuing to do is a disgrace - with the complicity of the Irish Government (including the Green Party) and media.

I and many others would not have voted for the Green Party if I/We had realised how silent you would be on the issue of Shell/Erris (and I might add Tara/M3 (and I might add Shannon/Iraq)) once in government. I certainly will not be voting for the Green Party for a very long while to come.

I notice on your policies page on your website, you say: "The Green Party takes pride in its focus on innovative policies and solutions". I never knew silence to be such an "innovative" policy or "solution", especially when there is so much wanton destruction going on around you.

My main focus in this shameful affair is the lack of concern at the fact that our precious national resources have been robbed from the Irish people - resources that are all the more valuable at this time of energy crisis.
I believe that more energy should be devoted to establishing who gave away our gas and at what price.
If corruption can be proven I believe that an Irish government could reasonably declare "all bets off" and take our energy resources back.
I would like to declare my support for the protesters who are taking up battle against all odds and a craven establishment on our behalf.
Aongus Mac Cana

I'd say corruption simply HAS to be involved because Article 10 of our Constitution cleary states:

"All natural resources, including the air and all forms of potential energy, within the jurisdiction of the Parliament and Government established by this Constitution and all royalties and franchises within that jurisdiction belong to the State ... "

The problem seems to be -- to me at least -- that our "trusted public servants" have slyly arranged to give the natural resources in question away (in effect): and you can be sure that a) they will not have done that for free, and b) that they will deny doing it until they are blue in the face.

Can whoever posted that comment about the landslides back in 2003 stop talking rubbish. How did the 2002 (one year before event) works contribute to the destabilising of the peat on the side of Dooncarton? If you knew your history of the area you would know that landslides have happened on that hill on numerous occasions in the past - yet EEIL and subsequently SEPIL were no doing any work back then! I find that statement absolutely bizzare. The other statements I understand, but saying that Dooncarton coming down in one of most localised rainfall events ever witnessed in the area (Inver was affected but very little was recorded at either Belmullet or Bellanaboy met stations) was the result of the causeway work back in 2002, well I have heard it all now! The peat dessicated in the hot summer of 2003 and the heavy autumnal rains destabilised it - its common all over Ireland, but granted this was a severe episode. I was living there at the time - I was up at the aftermath - I saw the fresh scars on the mountain, the condition of the cemetry and the road. I talked to Patrick Flannery who was nearly washed into the Bay in his car that night! Please stop making spurrious comments and get your facts correct.

The brave people who are standing up to the Shell tyranny deserve the support of everyone who believes in justice and fair play.

It is despicable that this Company can bulldoze their way to carry on with their plans inspired by greed and profit, without even having to show that they have planning permission for what they are doing.

It's a sign of the kind of State in which we live that this work is progressed at every step with State support and protection since the day when Ray Burke sold out the nation's right to its energy deposits, revoking the law introduced by Justin Keating.

Where was or is the accountability? What price was paid by Shell, Statoil and Marathon? What benefit is there in this for the Irish people apart from the puny sponsorships introduced by Shell to good causes in the area simply to win their goodwill? Why is this Government allowed to continue down this path by all its partners, Fianna Fáil, Progressive Democrats and the discredited Green Party? Are there no honest deputies who will oppose from the backbenches and shout Stop?

The non-violent protestors in Mayo need support to stop the immediate work until it is proven to be legal at the very least. The slippery actions of State agencies in giving the runaround to questioners is typical of the modus operandi of the Irish State over a near century. This despicable behaviour is sanctioned by the State - don't give straight answers to straight questions, "send the fool further", delay for time until there is a fait accompli, - all a part of a cover-up. It is disgusting in the extreme.
The State hides behind what appears to be an inefficient Civil Service until the illegal is made legal.
Meanwhile, the State sends out its agents to arrest and detain the people who are asking the questions that the State cannot and will not answer. Totalitarianism at the service of a private company?

I hope these brave people who have put their liberty on the line will be successful in stopping Shell's latest highhanded and blatant attempt to ram their own designs down our throats without a semblance of legality.

But when that is passed, there is another hurdle to jump. I agree with Aongus Mac Cana that we should be concerned "at the fact that our precious national resources have been robbed from the Irish people - resources that are all the more valuable at this time of energy crisis". And also that "If corruption can be proven ... an Irish government could reasonably declare "all bets off" and take our energy resources back".

Surely, the people who vote our Governments into office should expect no less?

The "Celtic Tiger" associated growth of political, legal, and corporate corruption certainly appears to have crossed some invisible line (several years ago perhaps), whereby it took on a very aggressive and potent "life of its own" in the Republic of Ireland, so much so that it now appears to be almost completely unstoppable -- at least by any of the built-in Constitutional means?

Maybe the only way out of this awful and steadily growing cesspit is for the people of the Republic of Ireland to try and apply more and more suitably adapted applications of the "civil disobedience" tactics outlined at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience ?

"Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary tactics of nonviolent resistance."

It is time for all who have posted here, their friends, contacts and anyone else who cares, to come to Erris to see with their own eyes the events which I acknowledge are difficult to accept as really happening in a corner of what's considered the 'developed world'.

This is an abomination against the Place of Divine Beauty that is Glengad and against this and future generations of people living in this country who are being denied the ever-increasing benefits which, in a transition energy age, should accrue to denizens of the State rather than Big Oil.

The wise use and management of what should be OUR natural resources is set on its head by a shower of fools and/or knaves. The only way in which this can be stopped is through the will of the people.

It cannot be denied that the people of Erris have held the strain for the past eight years. To the trolls who'll come like horseflies with the 'local employment, biggest construction site in Ireland' etc. - that will soon come to an end; one can build a white elephant in the bog and, once built, it's back on 'the stamps' for the quislings.

As the former owner of the field at Glengad - now a site of destruction - could, I'm sure attest, where are the Berties and the Brian Ó Cathains now???

Come and see for yourselves and you'd never know what might happen ...

The response of Erris Exile has an errie resonance of Shell's and the State's immeadete attempt to cover up (!!) of any connection between heavy duty civil engineering works carried out at the base of the subsequent landslide zone of Dooncarton and Glengad. Is it some coincidence or what that of the 600 or so hills and mountains along the west coast of Ireland that the heavy rock breaking work at it's base in 2002 and 2003 was in no way connected to this work when the torrential downpour occured in 2003 ??? The thin rooting system holding the soil covering on to the iron pan mountain was ( and will be ) effected by the massive vibrations of this work. I wonder ??!! Over to you Erris Exile. Return the serve !

From afar, I have often wondered how -- against such "big business" pressure -- the "people of Erris have held the strain for the past eight years"?

And, I have long hoped that more of the people of Ireland will one day "put their shoulders to the wheel" and help them out: so that the socially constructive RESISTANCE to all the corruption and "state sponsored bullying" involved, which those concerned have so admirably demonstrated to the world, will NEVER be destroyed or forgotten.

It is important that it remain recorded that 13 people were arrested on the 22nd July 2008 at Glengad. One of those arrested remains in 'custody' in Castlebar General Hospital awaiting a definitive diagnosis on injuries sustained while in the not so TLC of the State.

It is interesting to note the attempts being made to set the number arrested on that day at 12, '11 men and 1 woman'.

The green flags of irish schools should be lowered in support of those who oppose the world,s worst pollutor SHELL.The example must come from the top,our government must lead by example,instead they are currently allowing the destruction of our fishing industry,the pollution of the water supply of ERRIS,the destruction and endangerment of an area and its people.It is pointless blaming the green party,they were effectively muzzled the day they went into the coalition govt,Bertie seen to that.To those who claimed that "outsiders " were causing the trouble in ERRIS,for once I agree,come to GLENGAD ,take a look at SHELLS private army of occupation on a public beach.EVEN THE DOLPHINS ARE CRYING.

So 'heavy' rock breaking in 2002 destabilised a hillside and caused massive landslides in Autumn 2003 over one year later?! Well I am glad I dont have you as a civil engineering consultant!! Amazing how NO-ONE has tried using that argument before, as most people in the Erris area know that the mountain shed its peat in the late 20s/ early 30s and the more recent scars are testament that this has happened again since then. Talk to MCC or BnM about landslides in the Erris area. Talk to the IAA about their radar station on the mountain top as they know the geotechnical conditions there better than anyone. But you need to understand the events as you were not obviosuly there - a causeway was constructed in summer 2002 (not in 2003 - remediation/backfill work in early 2003 took place on the Glengad cliff then) using dumped rock from Lennon's quarry (ask Maura about her 'go slow' tactics) out from the beach for about 100m+. The only rock breaking was for about 50m in a few localised spots along the trenched pipeline route (sand was removed using a back hoe dredger and a spilt hopper barge) well below the low water tide mark, and even then not all of that was completed. This was done using something very smiliar to a pneumatic drill off the back of a jack up barge. At no stage were explosives used as that could have caused a destabilising effect on the hillside. This was all considered and agreed with the NPW and MCC. Also the hillside is over 500m away from where the activities were taking place - I would like to see your calcs on how a pneumatic drill under water (10m+ of water) operating to depths of 2-3m into the rock could shake a mountain over 500m away?! If you can provide them then you should be working in seismology and your talents are better employed in areas such as California or Tokyo!!! I am not employed by Shell or any of their consultants or any government agency (those of you who have seen my comments before - Fear Bolg etc, will know this already). I was living in the area at the time (I now live abroad) and educated myself with what was going on, because I saw it every day on my way to and from my work location. I talked to people in the pubs/ supermarkets/ etc and even went down to site to talk to people and see what was ACTUALLY happening. I remember Gerard Muller in his canoe and ontop of Dooncarton taking photos. So, if you want to ignore the meteorological conditions of the preceeding 4/5 months to the landslide (the hottest summer in Europe for some time and over 12 months AFTER, including a heavy winter) and the way peat can dry out and detach itself from the underlying rock (this causes rivulets, etc to form conduits for water to flow causing a destabilising effect) then you should look at the construction at the base of the hillside (ribbon development) first and see when some of those cottages were built. Their construction may, and I say may, have contributed to some sort of destabilising. But MCC wouldnt have given planning permission if they believed that. But to say the activities at the beach could cause a mountain/ hill to slip its load, well I have now heard it all. Clutching at straws is a phrase that comes to mind. Now over to you - provide the evidence and not the supposition. Go up there and check it out. Talk to the people who know. Learn the facts and the history of events. It was a tragic event and thankfully mitigation measures have now been put in place to prevent a similar event from happening again. If the EEIL/SEPIL works of 2002 were to blame how come they were NEVER blamed and NEVER had to foot the bill for the remediation works. Because everyone knows, unfortunately for your argument, that in this case they were not to blame. I'm afraid the Irish Climate has got you on this one.

I reckon EE's right about the causes of the landslides. But only a fool would argue that makes Glengad is a safe place for an experimental pipeline. Worse were the fools that proposed bringing the pipeline even closer to Dooncarton Hill. To think that these same clowns almost certainly had an input in the current pipeline design is frightening.

Chrissie and MacE - I don't disagree with you at all. I wouldn't put the pipe anywhere near Dooncarton Hill either. That route was looked at back in 2001 but disgarded on safety grounds. The landslides of 2003 emphasised this.